Meals for freezing

frugalfreda

Hi I am a newbie!

I have some questions re freezing food that has been cooked so would be grateful for some answers. Sorry if some of these sound obvious but I am a bit of a novice at old style money saving I thought I was saving money by buying reduced food..!

Firstly, my assumption is that you allow food to cool down properly before putting in the freezer. Do you use freezer/microwave containers to store the food?

Do you defrost the meal properly or cook from frozen? I assume the former. Do you use a microwave or the oven to heat the meal up? (I don't like microwaves..)

What sort of meals can/do you freeze? Chilli con carne (yum yum) and shepherds pie spring to mind. Is it safe to freeze rice? I have heard that you can get food poisoning from leftover rice that has been standing.

I get fed up of the packet meals (cottage pie etc.) that are in the freezer that I have to use when caught short! Hubbie doesn't mind them though.

Many thanks in advance

carolwat

Im only just getting my head around cooking meals and freezing the leftovers. Im a veggie so I cook a meat meal for hubby and son and there always seemed to be some left over but not enough to freeze. I have started to make bigger portions and freezing them in those plastic tubs like you get from the chinese takeaway. I have just done a shepherd pie tonight as it happens and I do meat lasagne and veggie lasagne. Im going to do a corned beef hotpot thing and im also thinking about other meals I could do that would freeze ok so im interested in this thread too.

millionaire_in_training

I make lots of things in the slow cooker. My kids love food with a nice sauce or gravy. I have cooked chicken chausseur, sausage casserole, stew, bolognese ......the list goes on. I never ever only cook enough for 1 meal I always buy double and freeze a portion. Means I only have to cook pots, veg, pasta , rice or whatever for a nice easy meal another night. Fab xx

Nancy888

Hi

I batch cook (there's only me to eat a main meal in the week as the kids eat with their dad or the childminder) and most recipes you see are to feed four. I use chinese takeaway tubs and portion it all out. I take out of the freezer in the morning what I fancy for my meal that night and it defrosts in the fridge while I'm at work. I must admit that I use the microwave but the ordinary oven is fine - as long as you put your meal in an oven-proof container

I freeze allsorts - fishcakes, lasagne, quiche, chilli, curries - all the usual stuff then just gotta do the accompaniments

I use www.bbcgoodfood.com for a lot of inspiration - you can search the recipe index by those that can be frozen and then take it from there....

pavlovs_dog

cheers for the link nancy. this is something i plan to do more of so will have a gander at the website for inspiration